JP7266190B2 - lighting equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a lighting device having a light guide plate.

A ceiling-mounted lighting device is known as one of the lighting devices for illuminating a space. For example, the lighting device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a fixture body attached to the ceiling surface, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light emitting part provided in the fixture body, and an incident end face facing the LED light emitting part. A light guide plate and a pair of clamping members that are supported by the device body and clamp the light guide plate in the thickness direction are provided.

JP 2015-204162 A

In the lighting device disclosed in Patent Document 1, in order to allow light to enter the end surface of the flat light guide plate, the circuit board on which a plurality of LED chips are arranged, which is the LED light emitting portion, is placed on the light emitting surface of the light guide plate. placed in a position perpendicular to the Simply put, the circuit board is arranged in a vertical posture with respect to the flat light guide plate. That is, in the main body of the lighting device, the LED light-emitting portion is arranged with the circuit board erected. This is a factor that hinders thinning of a lighting device used as a ceiling light, for example. In order to avoid such a problem, for example, the circuit board of the LED light emitting part is laid flat on the instrument body, and the end face of the light guide plate and the light guide plate are arranged so that the end face of the light guide plate faces the LED light emitting part. It is conceivable to provide a curved portion between the front surface, which is the exit surface. As a result, the light guide plate can emit the light incident on the end face from the LED light-emitting portion placed flat as illumination light through the wide front surface directed forward (spreading in the horizontal direction).

However, since the curved portion of the light guide plate is a portion where light is less likely to be emitted, for example, when looking up from below the lighting device arranged on the ceiling, the curved portion is observed as a dark portion in the light emitting region of the lighting device. There is a risk that it will be

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was made by the inventors of the present invention by newly paying attention to the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a lighting device that can be made thinner and that can improve the uniformity of emitted light. do.

A lighting device according to an aspect of the present invention includes a light source unit and a light guide plate that emits light emitted from the light source unit and incident from an end surface from a front surface, and the light guide plate forms the end surface. an entrance portion, a front surface forming the front surface, and an outwardly convex curved portion for redirecting light between the entrance portion and the front surface, the outer surface of the curved portion being concave; A shaped or convex shaped light extraction part is provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lighting device that can be made thinner and that can improve the uniformity of emitted light.

1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a lighting device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a lighting device according to an embodiment; FIG. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is sectional drawing which shows the structural outline of the illuminating device which concerns on embodiment. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for explaining details of an incident part and a front part of the light guide plate according to the embodiment; FIG. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an arrangement example of light diffusing portions in the light guide plate according to the embodiment; FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an arrangement example of light extraction portions in the light guide plate according to the embodiment; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the shape of a light extraction portion according to the embodiment; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the shape of the light extraction portion according to the embodiment;

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the embodiment described below represents a specific example of the present invention. Therefore, numerical values, shapes, materials, constituent elements, arrangement positions of constituent elements, connection forms, and the like shown in the following embodiments are examples and are not intended to limit the present invention. Therefore, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, constituent elements not described in independent claims will be described as optional constituent elements.

Each figure is a schematic diagram and is not necessarily strictly illustrated. Moreover, in each figure, the same code|symbol is attached|subjected to substantially the same structure, and the overlapping description may be abbreviate|omitted or simplified.

In addition, in the following embodiments and claims, expressions indicating relative directions or orientations such as parallel and orthogonal may be used. Including cases where it is not. For example, two directions are orthogonal, not only means that the angle formed by the two directions is completely 90 °, but also substantially orthogonal, that is, for example, a difference of about several percent It is also meant to include Further, "forward" indicates the main direction of light emission from the lighting device, and in the present embodiment, it is the direction on the positive side of the Z axis. For example, when the lighting device is arranged on the ceiling so as to illuminate the floor surface in the room, the front of the lighting device is the direction toward the floor surface.

(Embodiment)
[1. Basic configuration of lighting device]
First, the basic configuration of a lighting device 100 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of lighting device 100 according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of lighting device 100 according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an overview of the configuration of lighting device 100 according to the embodiment. Specifically, FIG. 3 simply illustrates a cross section of the illumination device 100 on the YZ plane passing through line III-III in FIG. In addition, FIG. 3 shows a side view of only one light-emitting element 21 arranged at the position of line III-III.

As shown in FIG. 1, the illumination device 100 of the present embodiment is a ceiling-mounted illumination device called a ceiling light, for example. Note that the downward direction (Z-axis minus direction) in FIG. 1 is the direction in which the ceiling exists. That is, in FIG. 1 and subsequent figures (except FIG. 6), the illumination device 100 is shown in an upside-down posture compared to normal use.

Illumination device 100 according to the present embodiment includes main body portion 110, light source portion 20 attached to main body portion 110, light guide plate 160 disposed in front of light source portion 20, and light source portion 20 and light guide plate 160. and a diffusion cover 140 for covering.

The light source unit 20 has a substrate 25 and a plurality of light emitting elements 21 arranged in front of the substrate 25 . The light guide plate 160 has an incident portion 161 that forms an end face into which light from the light source portion 20 is incident, and a front portion 166 that forms a front surface 166a through which the light incident from the incident portion 161 is emitted. The diffusion cover 140 covers the light source unit 20 and the light guide plate 160, diffuses the light emitted from the light guide plate 160, and emits the light to the outside.

In this embodiment, the circuit accommodating portion 101 is arranged on the back side of the main body portion 110 , and the circuit board 50 is arranged in the circuit accommodating portion 101 . The circuit board 50 is a board having a power supply circuit and a control circuit made up of a plurality of circuit components 60, and supplies power to the light source unit 20, lighting, extinguishing, dimming, color toning, etc. via wires (not shown). control. A part of the circuit board 50 is provided with a cylindrical body 70 in which a night light and a light receiving part are arranged. The light receiving unit is a device that receives infrared light for controlling the lighting device 100 .

A support portion 102 for supporting an attachment 30 for attaching the lighting device 100 to a socket provided on the ceiling is arranged in the central portion of the circuit housing portion 101 . The circuit housing portion 101 is fixed to the rear surface of the main body portion 110 with a plurality of screws (not shown).

An opening 113 of the main body 110 and an opening 168 of the light guide plate 160 are arranged in front of the support portion 102 . Therefore, the user can access the attachment 30 through the openings 168 and 113 by removing the diffusion cover 140 detachably attached to the main body 110 . This allows the user to attach and detach lighting device 100 to and from sockets arranged on the ceiling.

An opening 114 of the body portion 110 is arranged in front of the cylinder 70, and the light receiving portion can receive infrared light transmitted from the remote controller without being blocked by the body portion 110. - 特許庁

[2. Main body]
As shown in FIG. 1, the main body 110 is formed in a disc shape and is a member made of sheet metal such as an aluminum plate or a steel plate. The surface of the main body part 110 on which the light source part 20 and the like are arranged is coated with, for example, a white paint having a high light reflectance or vapor-deposited with a reflective metal material.

A circular opening 113 is formed in the central portion of the body portion 110 , and the substantially cylindrical support portion 102 is exposed through the opening 113 . An opening 114 is formed on the side of the opening 113 into which the tip of the cylinder 70 arranged on the back side of the main body 110 is inserted. Around the opening 113 , a reflecting surface 112 is formed in contact with or close to the back surface of the light guide plate 160 to re-enter the light that has leaked from the light guide plate 160 into the light guide plate 160 .

An outer peripheral portion 115 recessed rearward from the reflecting surface portion 112 is formed around the reflecting surface portion 112, and the light source portion 20 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion 115 by, for example, a plurality of screws (not shown). A plurality of attachment members 111 a for detachably attaching the diffusion cover 140 to the main body 110 are arranged on the outer peripheral portion 115 .

The circuit housing portion 101 is fixed to the back surface of the main body portion 110 as described above. The circuit housing portion 101 is a member made of sheet metal such as an aluminum plate or a steel plate, like the main body portion 110 . In the present embodiment, diffusion cover 140 , body portion 110 , and circuit housing portion 101 form an outer shell of lighting device 100 .

[3. Light source]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the light source section 20 includes a substrate 25 and a plurality of light emitting elements 21 arranged on the substrate 25. FIG. In the present embodiment, the substrate 25 is formed by electrically connecting four separate substrates arranged in an annular shape. are treated as one substrate 25 .

The substrate 25 has an annular outer shape when viewed from the front, and the plurality of light emitting elements 21 are arranged in an annular shape along the shape of the substrate 25 . The substrate 25 is a printed circuit board provided with a conductor pattern (metal wiring). As such a substrate 25, for example, a glass composite substrate such as a CEM3 (Composite epoxy material-3) substrate, a resin substrate, a ceramic substrate, a paper phenol substrate, a metal base substrate, or the like is adopted.

In the present embodiment, each of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 is an LED element in which an LED chip is packaged, for example. That is, the mounting structure of the light source unit 20 is an SMD (Surface Mount Device) structure in which an LED element in which an LED chip is packaged is mounted on the substrate 25 . The plurality of light emitting elements 21 included in the light source unit 20 includes, for example, two types of light emitting elements 21 having different color temperatures. For example, the plurality of light emitting elements 21 included in the light source unit 20 may be configured by a group (first group) of light emitting elements 21 having a high color temperature and a group (second group) of light emitting elements 21 having a low color temperature. good. In this case, by adjusting the brightness of each of the light emitting elements 21 of the first group and the light emitting elements 21 of the second group, that is, by performing dimming control, the color of the light emitted by the light source unit 20 is adjusted, that is, toning. control may be performed.

Since the light source unit 20 configured in this manner is arranged with the substrate 25 in contact with the outer peripheral portion 115 of the main body 110 , the heat generated by the plurality of light emitting elements 21 is efficiently transferred to the outside by the main body 110 . heat is dissipated to

[4. Diffusion cover]
The diffusion cover 140 is a member that covers the light source section 20 and the light guide plate 160, and is made of translucent resin. The diffusion cover 140 is milky white, for example, and can be produced by injection molding a resin material in which light diffusion particles are dispersed. The diffusion cover 140 can diffuse the light from each light emitting element 21 and emit it to the outside. Further, the diffusion cover 140 may have a light diffusion function by forming a milky white light diffusion layer, a plurality of light diffusion dots, or fine unevenness (texture) on the inner surface or the outer surface. The diffusion cover 140 is detachably attached to the attachment member 111a of the main body 110 as described above.

In the present embodiment, diffusion cover 140 has a circular shape when viewed from the front (hereinafter also referred to as plan view), and has a relatively thin width (thickness) in the Z-axis direction. are doing.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 does not reach the diffusion cover 140 directly or via a lens arranged on each light emitting element 21. The light from the surface light source reaches the diffusion cover 140 via the light guide plate 160 . That is, the light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 reaches the diffusion cover 140 as light from a pseudo surface light source provided by the light guide plate 160 . Therefore, in FIG. 3, when the maximum distance between the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160 and the diffusion cover 140 is Ha, and the distance between the light source portion 20 and the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160 is Hb, for example , Ha<Hb. That is, by shortening the distance between the inner surface of the diffusion cover 140 and the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160, the width of the diffusion cover 140 in the Z-axis direction can be reduced. Even in this case, since light mainly from a pseudo surface light source formed on the light guide plate 160 is incident on the diffusion cover 140 , the diffusion cover 140 is formed on each of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 via the diffusion cover 140 . Visibility of the luminescent spot is substantially prevented.

[5. Light guide plate]
The light guide plate 160 is an optical member for guiding light from each of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 included in the light source unit 20 to a space in front of the illumination device 100 (in the direction of the positive side of the Z axis), and has translucency. It is made of a material (for example, transparent acrylic resin, etc.). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the light guide plate 160 has an incident portion 161 into which the light emitted from the light source portion 20 is incident, and a front portion 166 through which the incident light from the incident portion 161 is emitted. . The light guide plate 160 further has an outwardly convex curved portion 165 that redirects light between the entrance portion 161 and the front portion 166 . The incident portion 161 has a first incident surface 162a, which is an end surface on which the light emitted from the light source portion 20 is incident. The front surface portion 166 is a planar portion orthogonal to the direction of light emitted from the light source portion 20 (direction on the Z-axis plus side). The front surface portion 166 has a front surface 166a, which is a light emitting surface, and a rear surface 166b, which is a surface opposite to the front surface 166a. The incident portion 161 is formed in a ring shape surrounding the front surface portion 166 when the light guide plate 160 is viewed from the front surface 166a side. there is

Here, in the toning control of the lighting device 100, for example, when emitting warm-colored illumination light, only the light-emitting elements 21 in the group (second group) of the light-emitting elements 21 having a low color temperature are lit. States can also arise. Even in this case, if the light-emitting elements 21 of the second group are arranged at substantially equal intervals in the row of the light-emitting elements 21 arranged in a ring, the illumination light emitted from the light guide plate 160 can The luminance unevenness due to lighting of only the light emitting elements 21 of the two groups is suppressed. That is, according to the pseudo surface light source formed by the light guide plate 160, luminance unevenness due to the scattering of the light emitting elements 21, which are light sources, is unlikely to occur. It is difficult to observe as In addition, according to the light guide plate 160, since a pseudo surface light source can be created with a relatively small number of light emitting elements 21, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost or simplify the manufacturing process.

The light guide plate 160 configured in this way will be further described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8 in addition to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. First, the basic configuration of the light guide plate 160 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for explaining details of the incident portion 161 and the front portion 166 of the light guide plate 160 according to the embodiment. The position of the cross section in FIG. 4 conforms to the position of the cross section in FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an arrangement example of the light diffusion portion 164 in the light guide plate 160 according to the embodiment. 4 and 5, illustration of the diffusion cover 140 is omitted. In FIG. 5, a rough boundary between the front surface portion 166 and the curved portion 165 is indicated by a dashed line. This also applies to FIG. 6, which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 5, the incident portion 161 of the light guide plate 160 has a first incident surface 162a and a second incident surface 163a. The first incident surface 162 a is an end surface into which part of the light emitted by the light emitting element 21 is incident, and is an end surface that directs the incident light toward the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160 . The second incident surface 163a is an end surface into which part of the light emitted from the light emitting element 21 is incident, and is an end surface that diffuses the incident light at the incident portion 161 and emits it to the outside.

In other words, the incident portion 161 according to the present embodiment functions as a light incident surface that directs the incident light toward the front surface portion 166, which is the main emitting area of the illumination light, It has a function as a diffusion lens that diffuses and emits in the Y-axis plus side).

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the incident portion 161 has a first incident portion 162 having a first incident surface 162a and a second incident portion 163 having a second incident surface 163a. In this embodiment, the first incidence section 162 and the second incidence section 163 are integrated. That is, when the light guide plate 160 is manufactured by, for example, injection molding a resin material, the incident portion 161 in which the first incident portion 162 and the second incident portion 163 are integrated is formed by a mold used for injection molding. can do.

In the incident portion 161 configured as described above, the light emitting element 21 is arranged at a position where the optical axis La passes through the first incident surface 162a, for example. In other words, the incident portion 161 is arranged at a position where the first incident surface 162a and the optical axis La of the light emitting element 21 intersect. That is, the light emitted from the light emitting element 21 is mainly incident on the first incident surface 162 a and used as illumination light emitted from the front surface portion 166 . In FIG. 4, the light emitted from the light emitting element 21 and traveling rightward is incident on the second incident surface 163a, diffused by the second incident portion 163, and emitted. As a result, light can be emitted toward the end (see FIG. 3) of the diffusion cover 140 that does not face the light guide plate 160, and as a result, the end of the diffusion cover 140 can also be illuminated. This contributes to improving the uniformity of the light emitted by the illumination device 100 .

In addition, in the case where it is desired to collect light by the outer peripheral portion of the diffusion cover 140, the light emitted from the light emitting element 21 may be mainly incident on the second incident surface 163a. In other words, one of the first incident surface 162a and the second incident surface 163a has a position or shape in which the proportion of light emitted from the light emitting element 21 that is incident on the one is higher than the proportion of light that is incident on the other. may be formed in As a result, in plan view, the balance between the brightness of the illumination light emitted from the central portion of the illumination device 100 and the brightness of the illumination light emitted from the outer peripheral portion of the illumination device 100 can be adjusted according to the specifications required for the illumination device 100, for example. can be adjusted accordingly.

Moreover, it is not essential that the first incident portion 162 and the second incident portion 163 are integrated, and the first incident portion 162 and the second incident portion 163 may be separate bodies. For example, a ring-shaped second incident portion 163 is connected to the outer circumference of the light guide plate 160 having the first incident portion 162 by fitting, bonding, or welding, so that the first incident portion 162 and the second incident portion 163 are connected. An incident portion 161 having a portion 163 may be formed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the light guide plate 160 has an opening 168 provided in the front surface portion 166, and a tapered surface 168a is formed on the peripheral edge of the opening 168 as shown in FIG. . The tapered surface 168 a is formed so as to be inclined away from the center of the opening 168 as it approaches the diffusion cover 140 .

The opening 168 is a portion necessary for accessing the attachment 30 arranged in the central portion of the lighting device 100 from the outside of the lighting device 100, but since it is a non-light-emitting region in the light guide plate 160, it is a dark area in plan view. may be observed as Therefore, in the present embodiment, by providing a tapered surface 168a along the periphery of the opening 168, light is emitted from the tapered surface 168a toward the center and front of the illumination device 100. FIG. As a result, the possibility that the central portion of lighting device 100 is observed as a dark portion is reduced.

Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a light control section 167 formed by arranging a plurality of concave portions 167a is provided on the rear surface 166b of the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160. As shown in FIG. That is, the light control section 167 can direct part of the light reaching the rear surface 166b inside the light guide plate 160 toward the front surface 166a by means of the concave portion 167a. Thereby, the light extraction efficiency from the front surface 166a of the light guide plate 160 is improved. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the light control section 167 is provided over substantially the entire rear surface 166 b of the front surface section 166 . The plurality of recesses 167a are formed, for example, by irradiating the rear surface 166b with laser light. Also, a plurality of recesses 167 a may be formed by the mold used to manufacture the light guide plate 160 . Also, the light control section 167 formed by arranging a plurality of protrusions instead of the plurality of recesses 167a may be provided on the rear surface 166b.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the reflecting surface portion 112 of the main body portion 110 is arranged at a position facing substantially the entire rear surface 166b of the front surface portion 166 (see FIG. 2). Therefore, the light leaking from the rear surface 166 b of the front surface portion 166 to the outside can be re-entered into the front surface portion 166 by the reflecting surface portion 112 . This also makes it possible to improve the efficiency of extracting light from the front surface 166 a of the light guide plate 160 .

Here, when the light control unit 167 is provided on the back surface 166b, when the night light 71 (see FIG. 5) located directly below the back surface 166b (immediately above in normal use) is turned on, the light control unit 167 controls dot-shaped light. shadows may be formed on the diffuser cover 140 . The night light 71 is an example of a second light source section when the light source section 20 is used as the first light source section.

Specifically, when the night light 71 is turned on, the light source unit 20 is turned off, so the light that enters the light guide plate 160 is only the light emitted by the night light 71 . Further, as described above, in lighting device 100 according to the present embodiment, the distance between the inner surface of diffusion cover 140 and light guide plate 160 can be reduced. 166 are located relatively close to each other. In this state, when the night light 71 is turned on, the light of the night light 71 enters the light control unit 167 provided on the rear surface 166b from the outside and reaches the diffusion cover 140 through the front surface 166a. At this time, since a plurality of concave portions 167a (or convex portions) are provided side by side in the light control portion 167, the concave and convex shape is easily conspicuous. Specifically, dot-like shadows are likely to appear on the diffusion cover 140 according to the uneven shape. Therefore, in this embodiment, a light diffusing portion 164 is provided at a position of the light guide plate 160 facing the night light 71 . That is, when the light guide plate 160 is viewed from the front surface 166a side, the light diffusing portion 164 is provided at a position overlapping with the night light 71. As shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the light diffusing portion 164 is formed by texturing a portion of the front surface 166a of the light guide plate 160 . As a result, the light passing through the light control section 167 is diffused by the light diffusion section 164 , and as a result, dot-like shadows due to the light emitted by the night light 71 are less likely to occur on the diffusion cover 140 . In addition, since the light source unit 20 is arranged to face the incident part 161 of the light guide plate 160, the night light 71 arranged to face the back surface 166b of the light guide plate 160 has a high degree of freedom in the arrangement position.

In this embodiment, the night light 71 is arranged inside the cylindrical body 70 as shown in FIG. 164 is provided. When the lighting device 100 is normally lit (that is, when the light source unit 20 emits light), the light diffusion unit 164 is inconspicuous, and is covered with the diffusion cover 140, so that there is no problem in appearance. practically does not occur. In addition, the light diffusing portion 164 need not be formed by minute unevenness formed on the back surface 166b. For example, the light diffusing portion may be formed by arranging a light diffusing layer, which is a resin layer containing light diffusing particles, at a position facing the night light 71 on the rear surface 166b.

Also, the problem of dot-like shadows when the night light 71 is turned on can be solved by increasing the distance between the diffusion cover 140 and the light guide plate 160, for example. , is not a preferred solution. It is also possible to prevent dot-like shadows from appearing on the diffusion cover 140 by providing the light guide plate 160 with openings (through holes) through which the light from the night light 71 passes. However, in this case, the opening (through hole) is a non-light-emitting region of the light guide plate 160 when the lighting device 100 is normally lit, so the opening (through hole) is observed as a dark part in appearance. . Therefore, this method cannot be taken realistically either. From this point of view, it can be said that the above-described method of making dot-like shadows less likely to occur by means of the light diffusing portion 164 is highly effective and useful.

Further, in the present embodiment, when light guide plate 160 is viewed from front surface 166a, a light receiving portion for receiving light transmitted from an external device for operating illumination device 100 is located at a position overlapping light diffusion portion 164. 75 are placed. The light receiving unit 75 receives infrared light transmitted from, for example, a dedicated remote controller for operating the lighting device 100 . The light receiving unit 75 transmits a signal corresponding to the received infrared light to the circuit board 50 (see FIG. 5), and the circuit board 50 turns on/off the light source unit 20 according to the signal. control. The presence of the light receiving portion 75 on the back side of the light diffusion portion 164 of the light guide plate 160 makes it easier for the light receiving portion 75 to receive infrared light. Specifically, the infrared light transmitted from the outside of lighting device 100 and having passed through diffusion cover 140 is diffused by light diffusing portion 164 , thereby improving the possibility of reaching light receiving portion 75 . In other words, the possibility of the infrared light transmitted from the outside being totally reflected by the light guide plate 160 is reduced. Therefore, when the light receiving section 75 is arranged on the back side of the light guide plate 160, the light reception by the light receiving section 75 can be ensured by arranging the light receiving section 75 at a position overlapping the light diffusion section 164 in the front view. .

The positions of the light control section 167 and the light diffusion section 164 on the front surface portion 166 of the light guide plate 160 may be reversed. That is, the light control section 167 may be provided on the front surface 166 a of the front surface section 166 and the light diffusion section 164 may be provided on the back surface 166 b of the front surface section 166 . Even in this case, the light emitted from the night light 71 is diffused by the light diffusing portion 164, so that dot-like shadows are suppressed when the night light 71 is turned on. Further, in this case, the light control section 167 can function as a light extraction section that improves the efficiency of light extraction to the outside by having a plurality of concave portions or convex portions.

Here, the light guide plate 160 has a curved portion 165 that connects the incident portion 161 and the front portion 166, so that the light from the light source portion 20 placed flat on the main body portion 110 is directed forward. It can be discharged to the outside from the front part 166 (which is oriented so that the normal direction is parallel to the front-rear direction). However, since the curved portion 165 is a portion from which light is less likely to be emitted, when the lighting device 100 arranged on the ceiling is viewed from below, the curved portion 165 is recognized as a dark area in the illumination light emitting region of the lighting device 100. There is a risk that it will be

Therefore, the light guide plate 160 can be provided with a light extraction portion for eliminating the dark portion. This light extraction portion will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an arrangement example of the light extraction section 180 in the light guide plate 160 according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the shape of the light extraction portion 180 according to the embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the shape of the light extraction portion 180 according to the embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the outer surface of the curved portion 165 of the light guide plate 160 can be provided with a convex (FIG. 7) or concave (FIG. 8) light extraction portion 180 .

Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the light extraction portion 180 is provided at a position opposite to the plurality of light emitting elements 21 with the incident portion 161 of the light guide plate 160 interposed therebetween. provided continuously in the direction. In the present embodiment, the incident portion 161 is arranged in a ring corresponding to the plurality of light emitting elements 21 arranged in a ring, and the light extraction portion 180 also has the light guide plate 160 as seen from the front surface 166a. In the case (that is, when viewed from above), the light guide plate 160 is provided in an annular shape.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the light extraction part 180 can be implemented as an annular protrusion 181 that protrudes from the outer surface of the curved part 165 of the light guide plate 160 . The annular convex portion 181 has a planar portion 181a orthogonal to the optical axis La of the light source portion 20, that is, the optical axis La of the light emitting element 21. As shown in FIG. As a result, at least part of the light that has reached the light extraction portion 180 (annular convex portion 181) among the light that is about to pass through the curved portion 165 is emitted forward from the flat portion 181a. This reduces the possibility that the curved portion 165 is visually recognized as a dark portion.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the light extraction part 180 can be implemented as an annular recess 182 that is recessed from the outer surface of the curved part 165 of the light guide plate 160 . The annular concave portion 182 has a planar portion 182a orthogonal to the optical axis of the light source portion 20, that is, the optical axis La of the light emitting element 21. As shown in FIG. As a result, at least part of the light that has reached the light extraction portion 180 (annular concave portion 182) among the light that is about to pass through the curved portion 165 is emitted forward from the flat portion 182a. This reduces the possibility that the curved portion 165 is visually recognized as a dark portion.

Note that the cross-sectional shape of the light extraction portion 180 is not limited to the shapes shown in FIGS. For example, the light extraction part 180 can be realized by convex parts or concave parts having various cross-sectional shapes, such as semicircular convex parts or concave parts, or V-shaped convex parts or concave parts.

Further, when the light guide plate 160 is manufactured by injection molding a resin material, for example, the light guide plate 160 integrally including the light extraction section 180 can be manufactured using a mold used for the injection molding. The light extraction part 180 does not need to be formed integrally with the light guide plate 160. For example, the light extraction part 180 manufactured as a separate member is attached to the light guide plate 160 by fitting, adhesion, welding, or the like. may

[6. effects, etc.]
As described above, lighting device 100 according to the present embodiment includes light source unit 20, and light emitted from light source unit 20 and incident from the end surface (first incident surface 162a) is directed forward toward the front surface. and a light guide plate 160 emitting from 166a. The light guide plate 160 includes an incident portion 161 forming an end surface (first incident surface 162a), a front surface portion 166 forming a front surface 166a, and an outward direction that changes the path of light between the incident portion 161 and the front surface portion 166. has a convex curved portion 165 . A concave or convex light extraction portion 180 is provided on the outer surface of the curved portion 165 .

According to this configuration, the light guide plate 160 can emit light incident from the incident portion 161 provided at the end from the front surface 166a facing forward. That is, with the substrate 25 (see FIG. 3) of the light source unit 20 laid flat on the main body 110, light can be emitted forward from the front surface 166a, which is the portion of the light guide plate 160 having a large area. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the thickness of the lighting device 100 . Also, the curved portion 165 of the light guide plate 160 is a portion that is likely to be observed as a dark portion. As a result, uniformity of the light emitted by the illumination device 100 is achieved. Thus, lighting device 100 according to the present embodiment can be made thinner and can improve the uniformity of emitted light.

In the present embodiment, light source section 20 has a plurality of light emitting elements 21 arranged side by side in the extending direction of incidence section 161 at a position facing incidence section 161 of light guide plate 160 . The light extraction portion 180 is provided continuously in the extending direction of the incident portion 161 at a position opposite to the plurality of light emitting elements 21 with the incident portion 161 of the light guide plate 160 interposed therebetween.

According to this configuration, the light guide plate 160 is provided with the light extraction section 180 continuously along the row of the light emitting elements 21 formed in the light source section 20 . As a result, dark portions in the curved portion 165 are eliminated in substantially the entire region where the light source portion 20 emits light.

In addition, in the present embodiment, incident portion 161 and light extraction portion 180 are formed in an annular shape surrounding front surface portion 166 when light guide plate 160 is viewed from the front surface 166a side.

According to this configuration, the lighting device 100 can be realized as a lighting device called a ceiling light, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 . Note that in the present embodiment, the plurality of light emitting elements 21, the incident portion 161, and the light extraction portion 180 are arranged in an annular shape. may be placed. In addition, the annular shape does not need to be completely continuous on the entire circumference. For example, the incident part 161 is recognized as an annular shape as a whole by arranging the mutually separated parts at intervals. It may be arranged in a layout. In this case, the plurality of light emitting elements 21 and the light extraction section 180 may be arranged in an arrangement of portions separated from each other corresponding to the incident sections 161 arranged separately.

Further, in the present embodiment, the light extraction section 180 has a plane section 181a or 180a orthogonal to the optical axis of the light source section 20, as shown in FIGS.

According to this configuration, the light that is incident from the incident portion 161 and reaches the light extraction portion 180 can be efficiently emitted forward (in the direction of the optical axis of the light source portion 20) from the flat portion 181a (182a). can be done. That is, it is possible to more reliably suppress the occurrence of dark portions in the curved portion 165 .

In addition, in the present embodiment, lighting device 100 includes diffusion cover 140 that covers light source unit 20 and light guide plate 160 and diffuses and emits incident light.

According to this configuration, the light emitted from the light source unit 20 and emitted from the pseudo surface light source formed on the light guide plate 160 can be further diffused by the diffusion cover 140 and emitted.

As a result, for example, even if there is a difference between the light emitted from the front surface 166a of the light guide plate 160 and the light emitted from the light extraction portion 180 of the curved portion 165, the diffusion cover 140 makes the difference conspicuous. can be prevented. In other words, the diffusion cover 140 can further improve the uniformity of the light emitted by the illumination device 100 .

(Other embodiments)
Although the lighting device according to the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, lighting device 100 according to the embodiment has a circular shape in plan view, but the shape of lighting device 100 is not particularly limited. For example, lighting device 100 may have a polygonal shape such as a rectangle, a cross shape, a star shape, or the like in plan view, or may have a shape in which straight lines and curved lines are combined. For example, when the shape of the illumination device 100 in a plan view is rectangular, the array shape of the plurality of light emitting elements 21 and the outer shape of the light guide plate 160 are also rectangular or nearly rectangular, so that the rectangular diffusion cover 140 can cover a wide area. can emit light from

Also, it is not essential that lighting device 100 include diffusion cover 140 . The light guide plate 160 has a front portion 166 functioning as a pseudo surface light source, and further has portions functioning as other pseudo light sources such as the second incident portion 163 and the like. Therefore, it is possible to use the light emitted from the light guide plate 160 as it is as illumination light. In this case, by not providing the diffusion cover 140, the total luminous flux of the light emitted by the illumination device 100 can be improved.

Also, the light source unit 20 may have a row of double annular light emitting elements 21 . In this case, the row of the light emitting elements 21 on the inner peripheral side is arranged at a position facing the first incident surface 162a (see FIG. 4), and the row of the light emitting elements 21 on the outer peripheral side is arranged on the second incident surface 163a (see FIG. 4). See) may be placed in a position facing. As a result, for example, a larger amount of light can be emitted from the light guide plate 160 to a wider range of the diffusion cover 140. As a result, the uniformity of the light emitted by the illumination device 100 can be improved, and the total luminous flux can be increased. Improvement is planned.

Further, the plurality of light emitting elements 21 included in the light source section 20 need not be arranged in a ring. The plurality of light emitting elements 21 may be arranged along only one non-circular straight line or curved line. For example, when a plurality of light emitting elements 21 are arranged in a straight line, an incident portion provided along one side of a rectangular light guide plate may be arranged so as to face the plurality of light emitting elements 21 . In this case, the illumination device may be elongated in the direction in which the plurality of light emitting elements 21 are arranged in terms of appearance.

Further, in the present embodiment, the light guide plate 160 is formed so that light from the plurality of light emitting elements 21 forms a pseudo surface light source in the central portion of the illumination device 100 in plan view. However, the light guide plate may be formed so that a pseudo surface light source is formed on the outer peripheral side of the lighting device in plan view. For example, a lighting device employs a light guide plate having an end surface facing the plurality of light emitting elements 21 arranged in a ring shape and a front surface positioned outside the plurality of light emitting elements 21 in a plan view and facing forward. may Even in this case, since the curved portion is provided between the end surface and the front surface, by providing the light extraction portion in the curved portion, the generation of the dark portion in the curved portion is suppressed.

Also, although the light emitting element 21 is an SMD type LED element, it is not limited to this. For example, the light source unit 20 may have a COB (Chip On Board) structure in which an LED chip as the light emitting element 21 is directly mounted on the substrate 25 . In this case, a plurality of LED chips mounted on the substrate 25 are collectively sealed or individually sealed with a sealing member containing a wavelength conversion material to obtain illumination light with a predetermined color temperature. be able to.

Alternatively, a semiconductor light-emitting device such as a semiconductor laser, or other types of solid-state light-emitting devices such as EL devices such as organic EL (Electro Luminescence) or inorganic EL may be employed as the light-emitting device 21 .

In addition, forms obtained by applying various modifications that a person skilled in the art can think of to the above embodiments and their modifications, and components and functions in each embodiment and their modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention The present invention also includes a form realized by arbitrarily combining the above.

20 light source part 21 light emitting element 25 substrate 71 night light 75 light receiving part 100 lighting device 110 body part 140 diffusion cover 160 light guide plate 161 incident part 162 first incident part 162a first incident surface 163 second incident part 163a second incident surface 164 light Diffusion part 165 Curved part 166 Front part 166a Front surface 166b Back surface 167 Light control part 167a Recess 168a Tapered surface 180 Light extraction part 181 Annular protrusion 181a, 182a Flat part 182 Annular recess

Claims (4)

a light source;
a light guide plate that emits light emitted from the light source unit and incident from the end surface from the front surface facing forward,
The light guide plate has an incident portion forming the end surface, a front surface portion forming the front surface, and an outwardly convex curved portion that changes the course of light between the incident portion and the front surface portion. ,
A concave or convex light extraction part is provided on the outer surface of the curved part,
The light source unit has a plurality of light emitting elements arranged side by side in the extending direction of the incident portion at a position facing the incident portion of the light guide plate,
The light extraction portion extends in the extending direction by being continuous in the extending direction of the incident portion at a position opposite to the plurality of light emitting elements with the incident portion of the light guide plate interposed therebetween. and
The incident section is an incident surface positioned in front of the plurality of light emitting elements, and has an incident surface in which a portion through which the optical axis of the light source section passes is inclined in a direction in which the front surface section is arranged. ,
lighting device. The entrance section and the light extraction section are formed in a ring shape surrounding the front surface when the light guide plate is viewed from the front surface.
The lighting device according to claim 1 . The lighting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the light extraction section has a planar section perpendicular to the optical axis of the light source section. Furthermore, a diffusion cover that covers the light source unit and the light guide plate and diffuses and emits incident light,
A lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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